Your home is the single most valuable thing you can own, yet making it pay can intimidate and confuse even the savviest investor.

All this week on Gerri Willis will take your calls live from noon to 1 p.m. ET on CNN's "Financial Security Watch."

Now, CNN Personal Finance Expert Gerri Willis leads you step-by-step through the entire experience of buying, maintaining, and selling a home, and shows you how to come out ahead -- maybe even way ahead.

Americans used to raise their families in one place, knowing that their homes would someday make them wealthy. These days, on average, people spend just nine years in a house; it's become a medium-term investment in a volatile real estate market.

"Home Rich: Increasing the Value of the Biggest Investment of Your Life" is the first book that offers simple rules specifically designed for this brave new world of home buying and selling.

Here are the ways to maximize your profit, from the time you get the keys to the time you hand them over.